It's that time of year when we hear the phrase "open enrollment." It's the season when people can change health plans, add family members, or choose a different healthcare option. It is a season of invitation and change.
Sometimes people get lost on the road of life. They may keep up appearances and even remain active in church, but somewhere along the way they have become spiritually derailed. They continue going through the motions, but something is missing.
That's why we need to be intentional about our lives and our future.
Hopefully, you know where you're headed today. More importantly, I hope you have made the one decision that rises above every other decision: to follow Jesus Christ.
I'm now in my ninth year of ministry at Liberty HealthShare, and every open enrollment season reminds me that the ultimate open enrollment began with Jesus.
Humanity was created by God, but it didn't take long for people to rebel against Him. For thousands of years, men and women found many ways to break God's laws. Those laws were given to guide our lives and allow us to live in fellowship with Him. Knowing humanity could never save itself, God sent His only Son to earth with open enrollment in His plan of salvation.
How do you announce news like that? To whom do you give the message? Kings? Royalty? Military leaders? Religious elites?
None of the above!
God entrusted the message to one of the most unlikely groups imaginable: shepherds.
"I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people," (Luke 2:10b, NLT).
Good news. Great joy. All people.
Just like that, spiritual open enrollment began, and it was all-inclusive.
Early in His ministry, Jesus intentionally traveled through Samaria and stopped at a well. There He met a woman carrying a lifetime of baggage and brokenness. As He spoke with her, He offered something completely personal.
"If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water."
"Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life," (John 4:10, 13-14, NLT).
And just like that, open enrollment expanded. Even the despised Samaritans were offered eternal life. Jesus Christ is the Provider above all providers.
Shortly after His wilderness temptation, Jesus entered the synagogue in His hometown. He opened the sacred scroll and read:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord's favor has come," (Luke 4:18-19, NLT).
Open enrollment had arrived.
He loves you. He calls you. He waits for you.
Open enrollment is here.
After Jesus ascended to heaven, His disciples were commissioned to carry the good news to the world. Filled with the Holy Spirit, they began sharing the message that Christ's invitation was for everyone.
In Acts 10, the Apostle Peter was led to the home of a Roman centurion. There, through the power of the Holy Spirit, an entire Gentile household discovered that God's invitation included them.
"It's God's own truth, nothing could be plainer; God plays no favorites! It makes no difference who you are or where you are from. If you want God and are ready to do as he says, the door is open," (Acts 10:34-36, MSG).
From that day in a Roman soldier's house, open enrollment has never closed.
The gospel is open to fishermen like Peter, James, and John; tax collectors like Matthew; and cheaters like Zacchaeus. It is open to the woman caught in adultery and to Nicodemus, who came searching in the night. It was open to Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, and to Blind Bartimaeus.
In fact, one of Jesus' final acts before His death was opening enrollment for a thief hanging on a cross.
The invitation is still being extended today. The question is not whether enrollment is open; the question is whether you will accept it.
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